The June 22 Encinas-Bravo Mena-Ávila Mexico State debate

Yesterday's debate can be found here in its entirety. There is from my point of view no doubt who commands the debate: Alejandro Encinas.

First Mexico State gubernatorial debate, available here on youtube

First Mexico State gubernatorial debate, led by Denise Maerker, available in complete form here on youtube

Phrase of the day, following Edomex debate

Attention has earlier been raised toward the ridiculous practice, in Mexcio State now taking to the very extreme, of notarized "promises" made by a candidate ahead of an election.

In the first debate held by the three Mexico State candidates, where reportedly PRD candidate Alejandro Encinas came out on top,  PAN candidate Luis Felipe Bravo Mena had the best characterization of the 6,000 compromisos practice:  "A diarrhea of promises."

Indeed.

See the debate for yourself here.

Alas: Even Encinas a "unity candidate" of the PRD. The death of primaries.

I'll be the first to admit that Alejandro Encinas is PRD's best card at having a shot at the Mexico State governorship, even though those chances appear much dimmer given what is at least the official end to a PRD-PAN electoral alliance in the entity. However, rather than going through any kind of party vote or primary, Encinas was simply pronounced to be PRD's "unity" candidate by its National Political Commission (CPN).

All the three main parties in Mexico State, then,  resorted to "unity" candidates; the PAN, most recently, designated Luis Felipe Bravo Mena its gubernatorial hopeful.

This certainly makes any criticism of PRI for the dedazo designation of  Eruviel Ávila ring hollow: The PRD, in the end, chose its candidate in what is in essence the exact same manner.

Whatever happened to primaries? The dedazo alive and well, and not only within PRI

The charade witnessed this weekend, when rather than actually running in any kind of primary or internal party vote, Eruviel Ávila was simply "declared" the PRI's candidate in Mexico State, was hardly just a one-time throwback to PRI's infamous dedazo process, where the outgoing governor/president/etc would simply designate his next successor as the designate of the party. In Nayarit, the exact same thing happened: Here, Roberto Sandoval Castañeda, mayor of the capital Roberto Sandoval Castañeda, was yesterday pronounced a "candidate of unity" by the PRI to be the next governor of the state.

Yet this is hardly limited to the PRI: As columist Denise Maerker pointed out in today's El Universal, PAN, in declaring that its candidate for Mexico State governor, alliance with PRD or no alliance, would be Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, is replicating the very practice.

And lest we forget: The backers of Alejandro Encinas in the PRD are calling for the very same thing, to simply drop any internal process due to prominent advantages of Encinas - poll numbers, name recognition etc. Now, Encinas may very well be the "natural" candidate of the PRD, and the only one with a minimal chance of winning the Mexico State election. Yet for the PRD's sake - a party for whom democratization has been the emblem since its inception - I truly hope the party will not fall into the temptation of simply dropping the primary or any semblance of open selection process, and in turn simply declare Encinas its "unity candidate" as well. If it does, it will truly add to the old saying that in Mexico, everyone carries a little priista inside of them.

Mexico State poll numbers

From Milenio:

No shocker here: Assuming there will be no alliance and that PRD and PAN will run separately, PRI's Eruviel Ávila is ahead with 39 percent, against Alejandro Encinas' 24 and Luis Felipe Bravo Mena (PAN)'s 24.
Just like the proponents of a PRD-PAN alliance has argued, there appears little chance of either PRD or PAN winning against the PRI candidate

Luis Felipe Bravo Mena wants to be PAN's gubernatorial candidate in Mexico State

It didn't take long before leaving his job as Calderón's personal secretary, to announcing his desire to be PAN's gubernatorial candidate in Mexico State: Luis Felipe Bravo Mena just made it official. 

I am not sure what to think here, and it's not just because I'm fighting off a rough winter cold that is keeping me down: Bravo Mena is considered far from "center-right," but rather of the hard right; he is moreover identified as a member of the secret conspiratorial ultra-right catholic extremist El Yunque. Does Calderón with this want to say an absolute "no" to an alliance with the PRD, or is it part of an even more sophisticated ploy? He claims that the president had nothing to do with his decision, which is hardly believable.

Note that Bravo Mena also ran in 1993, as did Alejandro Encinas.
Both lost to the PRI candidate.

Guessing game: Who will be PAN's presidential and gubernatorial candidates?

My guesses:
PAN's eventual presidential candidate: Ernesto Cordero
PAN's eventual gubernatorial candidate in Mexico State: Luis Felipe Bravo Mena.

What are yours?